Numerous surgical fasteners have been developed for use in joining together two or more body parts and/or prosthetic devices. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,716,058 (Tanner, Jr.), 4,060,089 (Noiles), 4,263,903 (Griggs), 4,454,875 (Pratt et al.), 4,548,202 (Duncan), 4,570,623 (Ellison et al.), 4,580,563 (Gross), 4,590,928 (Hunt et al.), and 4,635,637 (Schreiber), and the references cited therein, and PCT Publication No. WO 85/03857 (Schreiber).
Still other fasteners have been developed for use in joining together two or more parts. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,523,239 (Tinnerman), 2,853,913 (Rapata), 2,927,497 (Rapata), 3,494,244 (Wayland), 3,810,279 (Swick et al.), 4,395,174 (Freeman), 4,396,329 (Wollar), 4,402,641 (Arff), 4,427,328 (Kojima), and 4,551,189 (Peterson), and the references cited therein, and UK Patent Specification No. 520169 (Universal Rubber Paviors Limited) and Canadian Patent No. 1015989 (Russo).